Waves Coffee House is making inroads in Alberta

Getting into the coffee business is no easy feat, anywhere. For instance, Canada has half-a-dozen homegrown coffeehouse chains alongside international players such as Starbucks that collectively operate thousands of stores.

But a crowded market hasn’t stopped upstart chain Waves Coffee House from trying to expand out of its base in Western Canada. Abrahim Husin, who owns the franchise rights for Waves in Alberta, is now helping the brand grow beyond British Columbia, where the first store was opened in 2005. “The founder of Waves [Kami Rahmati] is doing very well in Vancouver, and has been for the last six years,” Husin says. “So I want to take that success even further.”

Alberta was a natural choice for expansion when Husin started researching markets in 2009. It was the province geographically next door and it was once again experiencing both economic and population growth after a brief halt following the financial crisis of 2008. But the decision to open in Alberta was also challenging because Husin had never done business there before. “I studied the market and the competition like a hawk before getting in,” Husin says.

Still, making Waves successful in Alberta took three years of hard work — and overcoming an occasional stumble. Husin initially focused on attending franchise shows and advertising in local newspapers, hoping to attract franchisees.

But with little brand recognition and a plethora of coffeehouse competitors, he didn’t have much luck in attracting even a single franchisee.

Unperturbed, Husin turned to a more personal approach. As an avid networker, he loves meeting people and chatting with anyone, but he scored his first franchisee at home — literally. Husin’s landlord had heard he was trying to launch Waves, and, after the two got to talking, she eventually agreed to buy a franchise. All of Husin’s subsequent franchisees have similarly signed after face-to-face meetings.

The recent spate of interest in owning a Waves franchise now stems from the chain’s positive reputation in Alberta, as well as Husin’s reputation as a devoted franchisor. He often spends his entire day helping his franchisees work the counters when they launch their stores. Husin has also become known for being available at all hours whenever one of his business partners, as he calls his franchisees, needs help.

Recently, for example, a manager of one of the Waves stores in Calgary had an emergency and couldn’t make it to work. Husin, with little notice, drove straight to the coffeehouse to make sure it would open on time at 6:30 a.m. It’s that kind of commitment he hopes will give Waves the edge as it continues to grow in Canada’s crowded coffeehouse market. Husin says he’s looking at Saskatchewan and Manitoba as the next target markets for Waves, though right now he’s focused on all the attention the franchise has received in Alberta.

Husin says that since January more than 500 people have approached him about buying a franchise. To put that in perspective, there are currently only seven locations in Alberta — six in Calgary, and one in Sylvan Lake. Another seven locations are in varying stages of development.

But even amid the flurry of expansion, Husin says he has his eye on Canada’s biggest city somewhere down the line. “Maybe you’ll see a Waves in Toronto in the next couple of years.”

How to grow a franchise

Sell yourself: Abrahim Husin wasn’t very successful at generating interest when he first tried to find people to run Waves Coffee House franchises in Alberta, because there just wasn’t enough recognition of the brand. As a result, attending franchise shows and using traditional advertising yielded poor results. Instead, he turned to selling his charismatic personality as much as the franchises, meeting as many people as he could. “You need to be talking to people all the time,” he says.

Find a formula: One of the key aspects of franchising is having a uniform business model that can be replicated across the chain. But for a franchise-business model to be really successful, Husin says the model’s formula has to go beyond mere aesthetics and what’s on the menu. It has to ensure that the workplace culture and level of customer service is the same at each outlet. “Anyone can make a good drink or good food,” he says. “But what really keeps people coming back is the service.”

Focus on personality: One of the hardest parts of growing a franchise operation is looking for the right people to run each individual outlet. Husin advises franchisors not to be afraid to turn people down, even if they have the money. “I look for people like myself — high energy, a lot of enthusiasm,” Husin says. That helps ensure the managers running the franchises can stay true to the high level of customer service that Husin demands. He says hiring managers with high energy levels also makes it more likely they’ll hire similar employees for their stores.